title: A life cycle evaluation of wood pellet gasification for district heating in British Columbia.
abstract: The replacement of natural gas combustion for district heating by wood waste and wood pellets gasification systems with or without emission control has been investigated by a streamlined LCA. While stack emissions from controlled gasification systems are lower than the applicable regulations, compared to the current base case, 12% and 133% increases are expected in the overall human health impacts for wood pellets and wood waste, respectively. With controlled gasification, external costs and GHG emission can be reduced by 35% and 82% on average, respectively. Between wood pellets and wood waste, wood pellets appear to be the better choice as it requires less primary energy and has a much lower impact on the local air quality.
authors.affiliation: Clean Energy Research Centre for University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pa
authors.forename: Xiaotao T
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.forename: Shahab
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sokhansanj
mesh_terms: D001955:British Columbia; D005740:Gases; D014934:Wood
chemical_list: D005740:Gases